Hannatu Musawa, the minister of art, culture, tourism, and the creative economy, on Monday, said the Ministry is targeting $100 billion, on the backdrop of Federal Executive Council approval of the establishment of the Creative and Tourism Infrastructure Corporation.
The Minister said the new corporation is to invest and develop Nigeria’s creative and tourism industries infrastructure under a public-private partnership PPP model.
This is really very pronounced, as the initiative will propel Nigeria’s creative industry and the tourism industry to new height by allowing it to unlock its immense potential that we all know, enhance economic growth and for global soft power.
The Minister who noted that Nigeria is blessed with abundant talents in the creative industry, said the Corporation will leverage technology, art, culture, tourism to strengthen the creative economy.
The Minister said the establishment of the “creative and tourism infrastructure corporation is a special purpose vehicle under a PPP framework that will allow us to identify and to deploy and finance critical infrastructure needs in the creative industry.”
“I think we all do know that at the moment, everybody talks about creativity being in Nigeria, there’s a lot of interest in Nigeria, not because of anything, but because of our context and because of our creativity. And the President is very, very intentional in trying to diversify his government by making sure that we build on the creative industry and innovation.”
She disclosed that her Ministry is now engaging with development partners and stakeholders all over the world in this discussion to develop innovative infrastructure development and financing approaches.
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“So the real key objectives of this corporation is to provide the infrastructural foundation that is needed for the creative industry and for the tourism industry, and to generate at least $100 billion to the increase of the GDP and at least 2 million jobs, specifically for younger demographic.
She disclosed that the federal government hopes to develop world class infrastructure.
“We want to attract investment, and we want to nurture talent and innovation, and we want to promote Nigeria’s cultural heritage and use it as a tool for growth, for us globally and for us locally as well, and to create output generally.
“By bridging the infrastructure gap, because everybody knows that there’s a lot of value in the creative industry and in the tourism industry, and this value can only be really extracted to benefit all, if We put the modalities in place that allow its growth.
The creative industry has been bedeviled with huge gap is in the area of infrastructure, despite the huge content and huge talent.
“There’s just so much, but there’s no infrastructure. Just last year, December, everybody saw what happened in Lagos for dirty December. This was a huge, huge way of showing the world that really Nigeria has what it can offer to the world when it comes to the thinking industry.
“But can you imagine if that dirty December was supported by the infrastructure that will allow its growth. We want to leverage on that Output in order to make sure that we really have the value, the huge value that can bring economic growth in this industry.
“So let me just talk briefly about some of the projects that we’re looking at. And some of these projects are an Abuja resort range, Yankari Games reserve, the Abuja creator city, a 5000 cinema screen, Creator City at the Wole Soyinka Lagos center for African arts, digital distribution network, upgrading the National Gallery and expanding national arena capacity to 100,000.
“We want to bring a Nigerian museum to Abuja. Imagine the Giant Of Africa not having a museum in this capital city. We want to bring Nollywood and realize Nollywood as a proper destination. And I spoke about the music arena that we need to have all in the country
The Minister stated that there are huge, opportunities, adding that “it’s a wonderful day. It’s a wonderful day for the tourism industry, because we have started on a journey to put in place not only the infrastructure, but the mentality that will allow us to really see the value and work that can be expanded to the general Nigerian public.”
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